RP Series Episode 5: Remember Me?
by Lady Starscream
Summary: Bullet makes another flycam, and Alpha discovers Hammertread didn't just rejoin the Decepticons. They erased his memory. It's up to the twins and the Kintari to rescue him, and recover his memory.. But does he want to remember?
1. Chapter 1

A/N: This starts where the last fic (From Bad To Worse) left off, where the Decepticon werewolf Orcas was captured by the Autobots. Thing are pretty much back to normal, except the reappearance of five of my 3rd War characters, Syus (scythe), Mic, Bullet, Needle, and Windstriker.

And I seem to have lost the character profiles. LOL. umm.

I'm getting most of them up now, at my livejournal art account, http://jadeseeker. So far I have the profiles up for Hammertread, Cable, and Cap. I have five more to get up tonight, so they should be up soon, too. (there's 12 3rd War characters and 9 RP series characters to do profiles on, so it's gonna be a bit. :-p

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The bots led Orcas to a cell in the high-security section, posting Sunstreaker and Sideswipe inside the large room, and Cliffjumper and Hound outside, on either side of the double doors. Primw shook his head and looked at Prowl. "Some how, I still don't feel secure knowing he might escape." he said. Prowl nodded. "There may be alternatives to keeping him locked up from now until eternity." he said. The two walked away.

Orucs snapped at the boys and then growled.

Alpha glanced at the two. She looked at Omega.

"Ya don't think..." Omega started.

"But the blue twit"

"Oh come on...dammit, I hate when ya do that"

Alpha grinned. She decided contacting Indy would be a good idea.

Jade woke up, and HighRoad wasn't beside her where he'd been when they fell asleep. "...figures." she mumbled, rolling over. HighRoad and Ratchet were talking on the other side of the room.

"Can I go now." she asked. they stopped and looked at her.

"I promise I'll go right home, and get some rest." she said, parroting what Ratchet allways told his patients when he kicked them out of the repairbay.

Ratchet nodded, and HighRoad helped Jade to her feet. "Thanks for saving me Ratch..again." Jade called as they walked out. Said mech folded his arms and harrumphed, but smiled anyway.

"Yeah, just because it's my job doesn't mean I have to like it." he replied.

Jade glanced back and grinned. The doors shut behind them.

When they walked in, Bullet and Mic were fighting over the game controller.

"lemme see it!" Mic tried to pull it away.

"No! you'll make it go the wrong direction and the cons'll see it!" Bullet yanked back.

"what are you two up to now?" Jade said from behind them.

"Nothing." they chorused. Jade looked at the screen.

"You didn't"

"You did!"

The Decepticon leader walked down the halls of the Nemesis, not even noticing the tiny black speck perched on his shopulder. The fly-sized spycamera bounced with Megatron's steps, showing everything he passed.

Bullet grinned. "We thought it might be a usefull way to get information." he glanced at her. Jade's grin widened.

Alpha appeared behind the group and peeked over their shoulder. She watched the screen and then smiled, seeing what Megatron had planned or was up to was a good thing.

Omega plopped down and watched, eating popcorn like he was at a movie.

"Neesa, no agu"

"Beeta...sela naga heela show." Alpha answered.

((translation: Omega: Sis, no soda? Alpha: Bro...not even gonna bother...))

Jade glanced at them

"...what?"

Bullet directed the fly to fly away (no pun intended), and turned a corner, deftly steering over Motormaster's head, and spiraling, which made the screen turn sideways in a barrel-roll type maneuver. Mic glanced at him.

"Come on, I can steer better than that. Here, let me try." he said.

"Hang on, in a minute." Bullet replied, and turned another corner. The fly ducked into a side corridor, and turned again, catching back up with Megatron.

Alpha glanced at her. "Seesh'ka no'agu." She answered, shrugging.

"She means...well...I'm not really sure"

Alpha facepalmed. "Beeta"

"Ah, that means brother"

Alpha nodded. She paid attention to the screen.

"We Al and Omega twins were taught a specical language...I forgot what it is"

"Narusisha." Alphas answered.

"Right. Narusisha." Omega nodded.

HighRoad tapped Jade on the shoulder. "you're supposed to be in bed resting, remember?" he reminded. Jade shrugged the shoulder he tapped.

"In a minute. We might get some usefull information on the Decepticons this way." she glanced at Driveby's group, who had gathered in the background.

"or what they are planning." Driveby added.

"Hey, can we hook that up to the bigscreen?" Cable asked. Bullet shrugged.

"I think I know how." HighRoad started.

"We can hook the A/V up to the input on that and output of that and..." Jade slapped a hand over his mouth.

"Honey, if it's anything like you hook up the videogames at home, forget it. I am not going to change the vcr, dvd, and tv channels, turn one on, turn the other off, and put the vcr on the vcr/tv setting and make sure everything is on channel 3 and channel 4, just so we can watch a bug."

everyone blinked.

"I'll do it." Needle and Mic said at the same time.

"Hang on... Guys, look at this." Bullet pointed.

The grey door opened, and Megatron walked into the repairbay. Hook looked up from where he was working on something.

"Have you finished the advanced chip yet?" he asked.

Hook walked over. "Well, it was sort of difficult to block all his memory sub-routines, but I think I may have blocked most of them." he nodded, Megatron turned and looked at the sleeping tank on the repair table.

Alpha's jaw dropped. "Ha-Hammertread?" She managed. "Seeska no asto"

"I don't know, Neesa." Omega answered. He watched.

((translation: Alpha: What's going on? Omega: don't know, Sis.))

Megatron nodded. "and what about him seeing these memories while he's in recharge?" he asked.

"I can't tell for sure where those are coming from. Perhaps they are..." he trailed off when Megatron glared at him.

"I'll reconfigure the chip as soon as it's installed, to make sure it blocks everything." and he went over to the tank.

"No way!" Jade took a step forward.

"Who's he?" HighRoad asked.

"Hammertread!" Alpha yelled. "They're blocking his memories! That's why he attacked me"

Omega's optic twitched.

"Oh shut up, Beeta!" Alpha scoffed. She swallowed. "We've gotta help him!" She said, looking at them. Fear for her friend shone in her optics. She was worried about him.

HighRoad nodded. "who is he?" he asked again.

"They're... going to erase his memory." Cable said softly. Bullet glanced at him.

"Or they allready have." he replied.

Hook opened one of the panels at the back of the tank's head, and carefully inserted the chip, using a thin, penlike tool to adjust it. He stepped back, glancing at the monitor, and Megatron looked too, giving everyone a clear view of the readouts.

"So, what did Prime decide to do with that werewolf?" Mic asked, looking up at Omega.

Alpha ignored HighRoad. "...HT..." She whispered to herself.

Omega looked at Mic. "Nothing yet..."

"he's a friend of ours." Jade answered for her. "It's a really long story, but I can't tell you because it would take all night and you insisted I go to sleep sometime tonight." she added, turning back to the screen.

Bullet looked thoughtful for a second, then said: "I don't know how we can help him. He's still inside the Nemesis. and if he doesn't remember us..."

Jade cut him off. "unless we can somehow seperate him from the rest of the Decepticons, like in a fight or something, and have someone get his memories back around the chip, long enough for him to not fight us while we take it out." she said.

Bullet Mic and Cable all looked at her.

"What?" she scoffed. "I'm imaginative. so sue me"

"I don't think Alpha's psychic enought to get around that chip if it's reinforced, though." Bullet commented, watching as the two Decepticons brought Hammertread back to conciousness and explained what had happened (which was all lies, of course)

"But we know someone who Is psychic enough. and a way to get rid of Orcas permanently." Cable grinned.

"No." Jade scowled. "Absolutely not. I do not want anyone associated with that blur Git here at all. Especially not with my old team here now."

she glanced at HighRoad. She hadn't told him about any of her run-ins with Klutch. "It's also a long story." she added.

"I'm gonna get Indy to help us." Alpha said, straitening up. She folded her arms and then glanced at them. She looked away from the screen where Hammertread was and then gently touched Indy's mind, which was hard to do.

Indy, who was in recharge, felt someone poke her mind, and woke up, rolling over. Klutch stirred beside her, mumbling something, and went back to sleep. His arm that was draped around her tightened, so she couldn't get up without disturbing him. "Drat." she thought.

---------------

Hammertread plodded out of the repairbay and headed for his quarters. Bullet would have directed the fly to follow, but in the small area Megatron would have seen it for sure. so it stayed put.

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Jade looked at the flooring for a second. Then back at the screen. She sighed. She opened her mouth to say something, then shut it again. She tried again. But still couldn't find an argument. She finally just looked at Alpha.

"Yaknow." she thought about it some more.

"that's not a half bad idea." she imagined Orcas being hauled away and chuckled.

"heh. I'd almost feel sorry for him...heh heheh"

"NOT!" She grinned.

"You should go tell Prime about your idea. I can't go or Ratchet'd have my afterburners.

"I'll go." HighRoad offered. Jade grabbed his arm, and purred "Why don't you stay here with me, honey. I've been lonely without you." she mock-pouted. "I've missed you"

Actually, she didn't want him to go, because she knew what would happen if he found out about all the trouble she'd been in while he was gone. She didn't want her reputation with him ruined just because he was told wrong. Oh no, she'd explain that to him herself.

"You should tell Prime about it." HighRoad agreed, not realizing Alpha was ignoring him.

Alpha sighed. _"Indy! I need your help...can you please help us out?"_ She asked.

Wuh...alpha? Indy glanced at Klutch, and turned away from him. We'll talk latah. she sent quickly. She couldn't tell Alpha, but Klutch was well... they were linked, and he could hear her thoughts, especuially when she used her mind-voice.

"Three in duh mhonin social call?" Klutch slurred sleepily.

"I dunno." Indy curled up beside him.

Alpha groaned.

_"IneedyourhelptoputHt'smemoriesbackinhisheadandtakecareofabastardofawerewolfwhohurtandalmostkilledabunchofus_."

She said quickly, leaving Indy to take care of it. She knew that Klutch, hal asleep, wouldnt be able to read it all clearly.

((Translation: I need your help to put HT's memories back in his head and take care of a bastard of a werewolf who hurt and almost killed a bunch of us.))

Klutch blinked.

Indy blinked.

Klutch went back to sleep snoring softly. Indy waited a moment, then sent _"I can't help you. klutch was banned from yoah country. and I cont leave heah to go theah without him. Unless Proyme does something."_

She just hoped Alpha heard it.  
_"Ya have to help! Please! I'm begging you...what if it was Klutch that had his memories erased...you'd want me to do anything to help...please..."_ Alpha begged.

Indy thought-sighed. _"tell proyme. He can help you."_

"Well?" Jade prompted.

Bullet blinked. On the screen, Megatron had gone into the storage bay, where the trio of seekers were playing kick the can with a brightly decorated, yelling, frenzy.

The bright orange,red,and blue cassetee was yelling. "Get Soundwave! HEEELP!" as he was flung across the bay.

"I got im, I got him." Skywarp ran over, missing, and the casetticon clattered to the floor.

"...Ow"

"Oops, I missed." Skywarp grinned, then punted the small con.

"What is going on in here!?." Megatron demanded. Frenzy stood up, stumbling to the left dizzily.

"Meh-meh-thank goodness euuerre heeere." Frenzy slurred, still stumbling, then ducked behind a canister to cough up the contents of his lunch.

"We were just having a little fun." Skywarp grinned, shugging. Megatron growled, and angry look across his face. Bullet laughed at his expression, reflected in the side of the canister behind the jet.

Megatron looked at Frenzy. "You, return to Soundwave." he turned to the seekers. "Clean up the mess and get back to work." He turned on his heel and left, Frenzy running/stumbling to keep up.

Alpha sighed. _"Please. Help."_ She begged and then decided to get Prime.

Jade looked at her. "What did she say?" she asked.

HighRoad blinked, and Jade explained who Indy was. In short.

He nodded.

Alpha looked at Jade and told her.

She nodded. "We should also tell Prime about the bug, too."

Bullet glanced at her, but she smiled back. "he might find it an interesting way to get information about the Decepticons." she turned to HighRoad. "We could call him here." she added.

Alpha nodded. She commed Prime and told him to come to the room.

A minute later, the doorchime rang, and Cable yelled "Come on in the door's not locked." The door slid open and Prime entered, Prowl following him.

"So...who wants ta tell him the news?" Omega grinned.

"E'shanko tow!" Alpha cursed.

"...Fine, I will..." Omega muttered. He told Prime what was going on.

Prime looked at the videoscreen, and Prowl raised an optic ridge in interest.

"He's a genius. Let's face it." Jade grinned and jerked a thumb in Bullet's direction.

"You might wanna tell him about 'tread." Cable put in. Prime listened as Alpha explained the situation, and the possible solution. He rubbed his chin thoughtfully.

"It would give us an alternative to permanently imprisoning Orcas. I'll have to contact Klutch and Indy, however. We cannot sidestep the human rules. But we may be able to have Skyfire transport him over there." he looked at Alpha, then glanced at Jade. "How do you intend to get Hammertread here so Indy could recover his memories?" he asked.

Alpha blinked. "Well...we're not quite...sure on that part yet..." She muttered, looking at the floor.

Prime nodded. "I see"

Cable also piped up. "Megatron erased his memory, and we gotta find a way to get 'em back. Maybe..." he shrugged. "I dunno, try to catch him alone or something. If Indy came here, though, she'd be able to help us istead of taking 'tread over there." he suggested.

Prime nodded. "I sincerely doubt Klutch would let Indy travel to the states alone. If something happens that we are able to capture Hammertread, we could take him with us over there. But I don't want you all trying to carry out any plans to capture Hammertread alone, and get yourselves injured." Prime looked at the group.

Jade glanced at them, then back at Prime like "Who, us?" but she was allready planning the ways they could get Hammertread out into the open, alone...

Alpha looked at the them and then started planning. she would bring her brother with her...and her master...that should be enough.

"I've got an idea." Bullet suggested. "If we can use the bug to monitor the Decepticon activities, we might be able to find out what communication frequency Hammertread is on, and Alpha can send him messages."

Syus nodded, turning to the pickup-truck femme. "You said he said he wanted revenge on you or something like that?"

"If you can send him messages, why not lure him out into the open with the chance of revenge, and we catch him there?" he suggested.

"Where's there, exactly?" Cable asked.

Bullet typed something on his laptop. "How about the valley... here." he pointed to the red dot on the screen. "It's away from the Ark, so the Autobots won't be able to interfere. And it has lots of trees and places to hide. We can jump out and ambush him." he stated.

"Uh.." Jade put in. "You're forgetting this is a massive tank we're talking about. He can take on five autobots." she added.

Syus scrutinized the map. "How was he taken down before?" The group looked up at him with a dawning realization, and Jade grinned.

"Yeah, but how do we get into the medbay to steel Ratchet's chemical coctail?"

Syus looked at her and rumbled. She glanced at him. "Uh, Syus, I'm not very good at lying."

"Not to mention, you're talking about stealing." HighRoad added, frowning.

"It's not stealing if we give the autobots something back." Syus replied.

"Which in this case is one of their warriors." he looked at HighRoad, who looked at Jade.

She shrugged.

Alpha nodded. She glanced at them. "Alright. I can do that...I can contact him if you guys can get the junk ready"

Omega appeared out of no where. "Ey'o ni'oh"

"Eeka." Alpha nodded, "Ya can help"

Omega grinned.

HighRoad glared at Syus.

Jade glanced at him. "Um... I dunno how we'd get the stuff to knock him out with... I'm really not good at lying. Or acting." She looked at Alpha.

Syus added. "I don't know any other way to subdue him. There are..." he silently counted how many people were in the room. "ten of us." he shrugged, and looked at Alpha. "It's your friend we ar going after, so the final desicion should be up to you." he said.

Alpha looked at them. "D'ya even 'ave ta ask"

"That's a yes." Omega grinned.

WAP!

"Ow! Eek-ana!" He cursed.

Alpha rolled her optics.

Omega rubbed his head. He looked at them. "Er...I could sneak into Ratchet's office, cloaked, and take it? Or do you 'ave another plan"

Ty and Gunlock walked in, Beacon between them.

"You three can help us, also." Syus pointed to them. Beacon and Gunlock looked at each other.

"With what?" the shorter light-grey Beacon asked.

Gunlock nodded, and went to the storage locker on the wall beside the T.V.

"You may not have to knock him out using chemicals." he said as he rooted through the various items. "A large electrical shock should be enough to paralize his motor functions long enough to tie him up..." he glanced back "Or whatever." he added.

He pulled out a box and set it on the floor, then another next to it.

"Or you could just throw a knockout gas grenade in his direction and hope it hits before he gets angrier." he set another box on top of the first.

Syus blinked.

Cable blinked.

Beacon chuckled. "That's what ya get for having an ex-weapons specialist on our side." he grinned.

Syus nodded. "I think we should have the chemical also, just in case." he turned to Omega. "you can get it invisibly, that would work."

"uh.." Jade added. "It's in a locked storage cupboard in the repairbay. It shouldn't be that hard to break into. But just don't let him see you." she said.

Omega nodded. He went invisable and snuck off to do what he did best.  
alpha glanced at them.

"...So how long until we put this plan into action?" She asked, looking at them.

Jade asked "What time is it now?"

Bullet glanced at them. "We also have to make sure Indy is coming here. We can't take a chance at getting Hammertread, and then have no way to recover his memory"

Syus nodded. "Once we get him, we might be able to take him with us, if Prime decides to take Orcas over to Klutch and Indy."

Jade folded her arms. "No. We can't go over there. We'd be on his turf. And you know full well what he's capable of."

"Calm down, Jade." Syus said. "we have no way of knowing how the Autobots would react to us bringing him back here anyway.

"Yeah." cable piped. "For all we know they could think he's really a Con and send him over there for good"

Syus nodded. "Gunlock, what all did you say you have?" He went over across the room to where the black jet was going through his bozes of weapons, rifles, a box of grenades, and some thick metal cable"

"Well." jade shrugged. "probably whenever you can get him out into the open, Alpha." she said.

Alpha looked at them. She smiled. "Get me his comm link and I'll have him out in no time flat." she said, looking at her friends. The femme winced as her brother walked in, visable, with the vial. "Bro?"

"I got it." Omega grinned. He winced as his wing drooped, "But I kinda hit something with my wing...I don't think Ratchet was in there, though."

Bullet started typing on his laptop. The screen with the bug moved to one side as he brought up the new program. "Give me just a second, and I'll see what I can do." he typed quickly. "Hey, you said something about being pychic, maybe you can contact him that way." he glanced at Alpha.

-----------------

Meanwhile, HighRoad and Driveby were discussing whetrher or not to tel Prime about the group's plan.

"I think if he wantes to be a Decepticon, let him stay a Decepticon. He seems to enjoy inflicting pain on others." Driveby frowned, folding her arms.

Alpha nodded. She looked around and then touched Hammertread's mind. Hey! She growled in his head, Hammertread! Ya 'ear me?

Said tank growled, shaking his head. "Hook must've put something back in my head backwards. I'm starting to hear things." he thought.

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Bullet directed the fly towards the repairbay, Hammertread wasn't there. He went down a side hall, catching sight of the tank dissapearing into his room.  
"There he is." he said.

Syus and Gunlock selected three stun guns, one rifle, and several small gas grenades. He also had several electro-pellets, which were a type of bullet that would stick and give off a strong electric current when they struck. One would be enough to take down a regular transformer, but the jet had a small box full of them. "Outlawed in three galaxies, including our own." he beamed.

Syus nodded.

------------------------------

HighRoad shook his head. "We should tell Prime. If we don't, someone's gonna wind up getting hurt." he said. Driveby nodded.

"tell Prime what?" Cap rounded the corner and nearly smacked into the two. He blinked. "Uh..."

He looked at the Prime mimic confusedly, thinking he actually was Prime.

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Hammertread shook his head again, and alpha's voice sounded even louder, this time as clear as if she were standing right next to him.

"Hey, you big lug! It's me, alpha! Ya know...the psychic glitch? Alpha snarled in his head, trying to sound angry. she figideted.

Omega watched his sister.

"look, You wanna get revenge on me for putting those memories in your head? Meet me here..."

alpha gave him the coordinates.

"Alone!"

Hammertread blinked, then grinned. He glanced out of his door. He couldn't tell Megatron, for fear of being thought of as crazy. But he could go alone.

He thought "Well what if it's a trap?" then mentally smacked himself.

"So what if it's a trap? i can fight five Autobots at once and rip them all to shreds."

he chuckled darkly, leaving his room, and going down the hall.

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"He's on the move!" Bullet reported.

The group gathered around. Gunlock (reluctantly) handed out the stun guns to the group. He hated parting with his weapons.

"I want those back later." he said. "And take care of those. They are valuable, fine tunes weapons. And dropping them or banging them around will only damage them. And I don't wanna have to repair them." he groused.

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Driveby chuckled and explained who HighRoad was, and how he was part of the first group to enter the TF world from Jade's world.

"Oh. I see." Cap nodded. Then HighRoad told him about the plan. He nodded to Driveby. "uh 'scuse me sir." he nodded to driveby. "sir." he nodded to HighRoad.

"I...uh... forgot I tols Terra I'd go meet her." he hurried away. He ran into the crew quarters, startling everyone. "If you guys are gonna get Hammertread back, you'd best be for hurrying. Highroad and Driveby are thinkin' about tellin Prime!" he said.

Syus and his group hurried, stowing grenades, rifles, blasters, stun guns, and some of the thick metal roping into their subspace pockets.

Alpha nodded. She transformed and then headed towards the cooradnites. "Time to save my friend." She whispered, driving towards it. She sighed and then went faster. One there, the femme transformed and looked around. Omega was nearby in, cloaked form.

"Hammertread?! You there?" She yelled. "come on, Ht..." She whispered.

Ty, Gunlock, Beacon, Cap, Cable, Syus, Mic, Bullet, and Jade peeked out from their spots. (Windstriker had gone flying earlier in the day with Powerglide, so she wasn't there)

"Ready?" Syus silently radioed.

"Ready." came the reply.

Guns clicked softly, and Bullet transformed into gun mode. Syus slipped the vial with part of the chemicals into the gun's barrel. It was enough to knock him out, but they still had the rest of the vial, just in case.

"Here he comes." Beacon radioed from above. A dust cloud made it's way across the dry landscape, kicking up a trail of reddish dust in his wake.

Hammertread snickered. "That white jet doesn't think I see him." He transformed at the edge of the valley, pulling out his gunturret shotgun, and fired at Beacon.

The white MQ1Predator yelped as the shot hit his wing. The tank fired again hitting him in the chest. Hammertread snickered as the jet trailed smoke, and circled to make a landing off in the distance.

"We have to help him." Cable whispered.

"No. He's fine." Syus replied, also whispering. "Hold your positions." he radioed silently.

The tank straightned. "Come out, come out, wherever you are." he laughed, deep voice echoing around the valley.

Alpha stood up straight. She looked over at her brother, or rather where she thought her bro was, and then walked into view.

"Nice to see you again, Ht." She said, looking at him.

Her smile fell, "Ht, come on. You can't tell me you don't remember anything. Do you really think that I'm strong enough to put those kinds of memories in your head?" she spread her arms. "I didn't."

Hammertread tilted his head to one side slightly, and looked at her. He glanced around the edges of the valley.

He took a step back and aimed his rifle at her. "Oh, I think you did." he rumbled, starting to squeeze the trigger.

Syus sighted the tank thrught Bullet's scope.

"Syus, what's taking you so long?" Jade transmitted silently from a few meters away behind a tree.

"I can't get a clear shot at him." the dragon said back. He saw Alpha's signal, throwing her arms out, and moved. The edge of Syus's wing caught the bush and it moved, rattling loudly. He froze. He leaned forward, so the scales on his belly were scraping the ground, and inched forward, trying to get around the brush.

"Any time now Syus." Mic said. Syus glanced at the rocks the camaro was behind.

----------------------

Highroad ran into the control room. "Prime. Jade and Syus and Alpha and the others have gone to try to lure Hammetread out into the open and trap him." he said.

Prime turned away from Teletraan. "What?"

Driveby, who was behind the mimic nodded. Prime clicked on his comm.

"Prowl, Ratchet, meet me in the command room." he turned to HighRoad.

"We have to stop them. They don't know what they're going up against." Prime rumbled. Prowl ran into the control room, and Ironhide, who was beside him, transformed. Ratchet appeared and joined the group as they drove out. Prime and HighRoad accelerated side-by-side, with Ironhide and Prowl behind them, and Ratchet and Driveby in the back.

-------------------------------

Alpha swallowed. She looked at Hammertread and then sighed. "I didn't." She said as she lowered her arms, optics dimming slightly. "Dammit, HT, I wouldn't harm you." Omega looked at his sister and then at Hammertread. He readied the laser he hand in his hand. "Be careful, sis..." He whispered.

Anytime now... Alpha thought. She looked at Hammertread and then reached out towards him with her mind.

The tank narrowed his optics, remembering megatron's explanation of his memories, and why he had pictures of them on that datapad.

Prime thundered up the ridge. Hammertread turned and fired. As he turned, he was facing straight at Syus.

"Hah." The dragon fired.

HT squeezed off two more shots before grabbing Alpha from behind, not even noticing the small syringe in his neckplating.

"Shoot at me and you'll hit your femme friend." he tightened his arm around her neck, aiming his shotgun over her right shoulder.

In the distance he heard Prime call "hold your fire!"

Alpha gagged and grabbed his arm, trying to stop him. She clawed at him weakly, "H-Ht...that's enough...stop it...please." She whimpered, "You're my friend...not my enemy...don't do this." The femme said, looking up at him.

He backed up, firing off a couple more shots. Syus loaded the rest of the vial into the cartridge and reloaded. He tried to sight the tank with his gunscope, but Alpha was in the way.

He clicked on his commline. "Throw the grenades and break cover. It won't hurt Alpha to knock her out.

Hammertread glanced up as ten more figures appeared from around the valley.  
The first few threw smoke grenades at him, then the others.

"Uh-oh." he thought.

The blue smoke wavered up as the first one landed a few meters away.

"What kind of a throw is that? I can throw better." Mic called to Needle, who shrugged and threw another one.

Mic threw his, which whizzed past HT completely.

Syus rolled his optics and threw one.

The next one hit Alpha, "Sorry!" Cable eeped.

And the fifth bounced off his head. "Hey!" he snarled.

"Sorry." Cap stifled a snicker. "Sorry!" he called.

The next five got close enough the tank was starting to feel dizzy.

Hammertread stumbled as he backed up, tightening his grip on his hostage.

Alpha gagged, but the smoke was getting to her. She clawed at him weakly until the smoke got to her. She closed her optics and lost consciousness.

Hammertread coughed, and everything faded. He collapsed. Syus's group were the first ones to run up, and Syus injected the rest of the chemicals, just for good measure. They pulled alpha away, and Prime's group came up.

Highroad looked at Jade. "Are you okay? You could have gotten yourself killed! or worse!" he pulled her into a hug.

Jade blinked. "I'm fine. But we.." she motioned to the group. "..Decided to get Hammertread back. Megatron erased his memory. He think he's somebody else." she argued.

Omega picked Alpha up.

Prime walked up."What could possibly have convinced you to take such a risk, not to mention he is a Decepticon, and wants to stay as one?" Prime asked.

"Not to mention the fact you could have gotten yourselves scrapped in the process." Prowl echoed from behind him.

Alpha groaned. She looked at him. "Er..." She muttered.

Omega sighed. He looked at him.

"Not willingly. Megajerk erased his memory." Cable pointed out.

"We don't know that." Prowl answered. "He willingly contacted Megatron, and even took Alpha prisoner to trade for his alleigance.

"Yeah, but he did save Kit." Jade said.

Prowl folded his arms. "You are in a whole lot of trouble." he said to the group.

"Transform and head back to the Ark. We'll discuss this further there." he said.

-----------------------------

Well, there's the first chapter. I hat to say this, but I'm not updating till I get a review. The button is over there. (points). Thankies!


	2. Chapter 2

A/N All right, so no reviews, but I thought I'd update anyway. Since I want to get this up and get to the next bit of fiction. ( I've found if I don't post what I have I can easily loose track, and have chapters on my computer that aren't uploaded. I still need to find chapters for a couple other fics I have going...) 

Anyway, here's the second chapter.

------------------------

Alpha sighed, "Prime, that's not fair! I know he's memory was erased! I...I read his mind." she said, looking at him.

Omega looked at his sister and put her down.

Prime frowned. "True. But even so, he may still have wanted to rejoin the Decepticons in the first place." he looked at the tank. "We will take him back to base."

He glanced up at the sky to see if Megatron was coming after his missing warrior. He transformed, and a couple autobots threw HT in the back of his semi. They climbed in after to make sure he stayed asleep for the entire ride." They shut the trailer door, and the rest of the Autobots transformed, and they all headed for the Ark.

Alpha looked at the ground and sighed. She transformed and followed them, muttering something unpleasant.

Omega sighed.

They got back to the Ark, and Bullet and Syus showed Prime the recording of the spycam's video.

"see? they did erase his memory." Jade pointed out.

Prime glanced at Alpha. "I see." he mused.

"What 're ya lookin' at me for? What did I do?" Alpha asked, folding her arms. She sighed and then looked at Hammertread.

She looked at the ground. Dammit, Al... She hissed in her head.

"Tell him about your idea, Alpha." Jade prodded.

"Yeah." Bullet shrugged. "Maybe he can help."

Alpha looked at the ground and muttered something, but then sighed. She looked up at him and told him her plan. She glanced over at him. "Well...?"

Prime nodded. "I see. But I highly doubt Klutch would let Indy travel here by herself. However, There is the question of a certain Decepticon werewolf, whom we might be sending to them. We could take Hammertread with us..."

"Works for me..." Alpha muttered. She looked at the ground. I just want Ht to get his memories back...I can't fight him... She thought.

Omega heard her and put his hand on her shoulder. "Don't worry, sis."

Prime went to contact Indy. Jade waited until he was out of the room, then said. "maybe you should contact her. Get her to come here. I don't like the idea of us going over there. Once we're in Klutch's territory, we'd be under his juristiction."

"True." Alpha nodded. She closed her optics and reached out. Indy...

Meanwhile, Hammertread woke up to an orange ceiling, and looked to his right to see energy bars.

"Now why do I get the feeling I've been here before?" he groused, getting up and going over to the bars, looking out into the large room outside of it.

He glared at his 'gaurds'. Two minibots and an S.U.V. how pathetic. Brawn, Bumblebee, and Trailbreaker glanced at him.

"They put you two on gaurd duty? hmmpf. A mouse could break out of here with you three gaurding me." he waited a couple beats, then continued.

"Who's the yellow creampuff?"

Bumblebee glared back at him. HT chuckled.

"What, you think those miniscule horns make you look threatening? please. I'd squish you like a bug, beetle." he grinned.

Brawn took a step forward. "Don't do it Brawn." Trailbreaker warned. "He's just trying to get you mad."

"I know you didn't mean that." Bumblebee said softly, turning away. "I just wish you'd remember who your friends are."

--------

Indy had just finished teaching her class on fighting tecniques, and the students filed out. She gathered up the datapads on her desk when a voice sounded inside her head.

_"Indy..."_

_"Alpha, hi! any luck with yoah frend?"_

Alpha smiled, _"Hey, Indy."_ She sighed, _"We've got him, but...we need you to come here and help us out."_ She said, her optics dulling as she retreated out of reality and into Indy's mind so she appeared in front of the femme. Kind of like a hologram.

Indy blinked She could've sworn Alpha's powers had gotten stronger since last time they'd seen each other. She didn't used to be able to do that.  
_"_Okay. Did you talk to Prime about it yet? You know moy boyfrend won't let me leave the country alone."

Alpha nodded. "He's gonna call soon." She explained to the femme. She sighed and then looked at her.

Indy nodded. Then tilted her head to one side. "What's wrong?" she asked. _"I know what's wrong. I told you he would betray you."_ she thought, but tried to shove it away so the femme wouldn't hear her.

"He did not betray us!!" Alpha yelled, "not by choice...do... DON'T say he did..." She said softly and then sighed, "Look...I...Ht needs you help..."

Indy looked down at the desk in front of her. "I didn't mean..."

_"All Decepticons are alike, you just want to believe it's different than that."_ she thought.

"I'll suggest yoah plan to Prime when he colls." she said.

Alpha growled, "He's not like the others..." She muttered, looking at the ground. "It's not his fault his memory was wiped..." She then looked up at Indy. "Thanks. I guess." She huffed and then left the femme's mind.

Alpha's optics returned to normal. She looked around. "Indy's gonna help us." She muttered and then headed to her room.

--------

Hammertread grinned at the Autobots. "How quaint. I'm being gaurded by three empty-headed autobots. I'll bet if I yell loud enough, it'll echo."

He waited three seconds for a reaction and when he didn't get one, he cupped his hand around his mouth and yelled

"I'M SURROUNDED BY IDIOTS!"

"Idiots, idiots." he mimiced an echo, and recieved a glare from trailbreaker in reply.

He grinned.

hmm, this is kinda fun. he thought. He yelled.

"I'M THE ONLY ONE WITH A PROCESSOR!"

"Lemme at him." Brawn took a step forward, but Trailbreaker stopped him.

"Let him run his vocaliser ragged. It's not gonna help him any when they rip out his personality components." the black suv hissed .  
Orcus chuckled, "I know how you feel, my friend."

"ah, so I'm not alone. And who might be my lucky roommate?" he grinned.

Orcus looked at him, "Orcus." He said simply, smirking.

HT lifted an optic ridge. "They got you, too, huh? hmmpf." He shook his head.

The Autobots mumbled something.

"what's wrong, am I being annoying?" Hammertread waited a minute, then when he got no reaction, flopped down on the bench and started counting ceiling tiles.

"One and three autiobot idiots;

two and three brainless autobots;

Four and three femmebots."

He chuckled, and an image flashed through his processor. He was in the cell block, and there were others in the other cells, all counting, much to the annoyance of their human gaurds.

"Five and the Autoboobs are idio-" he stopped mid-insult, and sat up, looking at the ceiling with a mixture of confusion and...

something else... was it loss? what was this feeling?

...regret?

he looked at his gaurds through the bars.

Orcus looked at him. "What's wrong?" He asked, looking at the mech.

HT shrugged. "nothing."

Orcus sighed and started to plot his revenge.

HT resettled on his bunk, trying to remember where the momory had come from. But it seemed the more he concentrated on remembering it, the more it slipped away, like an elusive dream.

----------

her comlink dinged. "Indy here."

The female (human) receptionist's voice came through

"Prime is on the line. Said he wants to speak to you. I tried to put him throught to Klutch but he insisted on speaking to you personally."

"Okay.. put him through." Indy reponded, activating the vidscreen on the top of her desk. Prime's face appeared. "Allo Prime, good ta see you again." Indy smiled.

Prime's face went neutral, "Hello, Indy." He said, looking at her. "I have to talk to about getting your help with something..."

Indy nodded as he explained his plane. Since Klutch had been banned from entering the United States, there had been some... tension between the two, and Prime had promised never to enter Klutch's terrain, so long as his allies did the same.

Indy nodded. "I'll have a talk with him."

Prime nodded. "Good. Thank you."

Indy nodded and went to talk to her boyfriend

Prime nodded and cut the connection, sighing slightly. It wasn't the best of plans, but at least it was possible to get the tank's memory back. and he hated to think of what would happen if hammertread escaped again. Alpha and Omega both might follow him. He tried not to think about last time they had done that...

---

Meanwhile, Bullet and associates were still spying on the Decpeticons using the spycam.

"My turn!" Cable cheered, grabbing the remote away from Cap. Said minitank glared for a second, but let him have it.

The screen did a loop-de-loop as the fly-cam careened down one of the Nemesis's hallways sideways, causing the entire group present to tilt their heads to one side, and they wound up leaning over to try and get a straight picture.

Alpha and Omega saw the group and facepalmed.

Terra looked at them, "Are they always this crazy?"

"Yeah, pretty much." The twins nodded.

Terra giggled. "They remind me of that building in Italy." She said, flying over to thme. She cocked her head to the side, then grabbed Cap and flew upside down so they saw everything rightside up.

"Much better..." She grinned, giggling slightly.

The twins facepalmed.

Jade blinked. She shook her head.

"Cable, drive straighter!" Cap exclaimed.

"I'm tryin!"

The picture went end over end, and the floor came flying at them.

Everyone yelled and cringed.

"Hey, this is better than a theme park ride!!" Cable laughed.

Cap whacked him on the back of the helmet.

The fly-cam straightened out and ducked into an air vent as two of the combaticons headed towards them.

The screen went black.

Cable and Cap's voices sounded around the darkness, but thankfully the Decepticons couldn't hear it since the spycam only had a one-way audio transmitter.

"Lovely. You just got us lost didn't you?"

"we are not lost."

"We're in an air vent!"

"So? we're not lost, we're just misdirected."

"Cable!!!"

"Don't worry, we'll get there..."

silence...

..."eventually."

Cap groaned and facepalmed.

"A-ha." the fly cam went through a grate, and wound up... in Megatron's office.

"Back to the vent! back to the vent!"

"I know!"

the fly perched on one of the grating bars and leaned over to get a look at Megatron.

Upside down.

the entire group tilted again...

Jade looked at Cap and Terra, and stifled a snicker.

"What?" Cap shrugged upside down.

The flycam finally righted itself, and flew over to perch atop a nearby bookshelf to see what the leader was up to.

Terra looked up as Kit, in her tiger cub beast mode, padded into the room. She smiled., "Hey, Kitten."

"Hiyas, Aunty Ter." Kit smiled, transforming.

Terra landed and let go of Cap. She smiled and then watched as the twins rolled their optics.

Kit appeared on Jade's head. "What's up?"

Jade looked up, then reached up and brought her down to face level. "Not much. We might have figured out why Hammertread was acting so funny." she smiled. She looked at the group.

Kit cocked her head to the side, "What's wrong with Uncle HT?" She asked, looking at her friend.

Jade blinked. "He thought the Decepticons were his friends. But they erased his memory." she set the sparkling down.

"oh..." Kit blinked.

-------

"No. Absolutely not." Klutch paced the length of his office. "They're looking foah trouble, am not letting you go ovah theah alone." Klutch folded his arms across his carhood chest.

"But, we might be able to bring you someone back." Insy tilted her head. "Proyme said he was a relly evil Daceptacon."

Klutch turned his back to her. "I don't keh."

"Wot, you don't kauh about ridding the wuld of Decepticons now?" Indy asked.

Klutch whirled to face her. "Don't you go getting all coy with may indy. You know what I mean by thot. If they wont us to 'ave im, they'll bring 'im to us!" he hissed

Now Indy folded her arms, mimicing klutch. "And wot if I decide to go on my own?"

His optics narrowed at her. "Then don't bothah coming back."

He strode out of the room. Indy thought for a second, shrugged, and followed him, to catch up and talk things over more.


	3. Chapter 3

--------------------------

the next morning...

Bullet had hidden away the fly-cam before everyone headed to bed. Driveby and Ty had taken up the bedroom, Bullet on the couch and Needle on the inflatable matress in the human-sized balcony living room, with Jade on the other one on the other side of the coffee table. Mic had taken the bed, and various other members of Driveby's group were strewn about the living room, beacon and Gunlock on one of the couches and a chair, and Cable snoozing on the floor by the videogames. (He'd found them quite addictive.) And Cap and Terra were snuggling on the other couch.

Cap rolled over and yawned, snuggling into Terra's fur, and went back to sleep.

Terra giggled and held him close.

Cap started snoring softly.

Terra smiled and wrappped her wings around him.

The Ark was quiet when the officers gathered in the meeting room for their daily meeting.

Prime sat at the head of the table in the meeting room going over the datapad he was holding. Last minute reading before the officers' meeting started. The rest of the group filed in. Prowl, Red Alert, Ironhide, Ratchet, Wheeljack, and a couple others took their places around the table. Prime waited till everyone was seated and had finished saying their hellos before starting to speak. "As you all know, not only have captured the Decepticon Orcas, but also, Hammertread has rejoined the Decepticons. Driveby's team acted without her authorization, with Syus's group, and managed to recapture him. They also believe he is still loyal to their group, and has had his memory erased. Ratchet, I'm asking you to verify that."

the medic nodded. "Will do, Prime."

"I have also considered what is to happen to Orcas." He mentally siged. "I wanted to discuss it with all of you, first."

Prowl and Wheeljackack nodded.

"What are we going to do, Prime?" Prowl asked, looking at him.

"I would like to hear your input before acting any further on this matter. It would not be right for me to make the desicion of his fate alone"  
Prowl nodded. "Alright...well...first off, just to make it clear to everyone, which one are we talking about right now? The werewolf of Hammertread?"

"the werewolf." Prime replied.

Prowl nodded. "alright. Now that that's clear..." He cleared his throat, "What do you think so be a proper punishment for his many crimes..."

Wheeljack fiddled with his hands. "Well...we can't keep him here forever." he said softly.

"I agree!" Red Alert started. "just having him here is enough of a risk. What if he gets loose!? You all remember what he did last time he got his hands on our troops..."

"We can't just shoot him. It's cold-sparked murder." Wheeljack protested.

"Then what do you suggest we do with him!?" the white and red security chief demanded.

Prowl sighed. "Please, calm down." He tried softly. "We cannot decide if we're all fighting amongst ourselves."

"Prowl's right." Prime nodded.

Prowl nodded, "Thank you, Prime. Now...I agree. With both. We can't keep him here, but we cannot just shoot him..."

Prime nodded, petending to study the datapad in his hands. It was a habit he'd developed, looking like he was studying a report, or something. But really, he was deep in thought. He looked up. "I wanted to let you all know, I have considered every other option. But in light of the circumstances, and the crimes he has committed... I have taken the liberty of contacting Indy"  
"What!?" Ratchet exclaimed. "Do you remember how much trouble she and her boyfriend caused last time they were here!!?"

Wheeljack put in: "I thought they were banned from the U.S."

"Should've been." Ratchet snarked under his vocaliser.

Prime shook his head. "Only Klutch was. Indy is free to travel wherever she pleases."

Prowl cleared his vocalizer, "Excuse me. If you all remember correctly, only Klutch contacted the Decepticons, not Indy. She, herself, actually tried to help us, but that was turned against her and us." He sighed.

Prime nodded. "Also, if we can verify that Hammertread's memory was erased, Indy might be able to recover his memory. alpha has allready tried. She has informed me that she cannot get past the mental barriers that were put in place when his memory was erased."

"And given that we are not trying to break the human laws, but Indy is allowed to come to us, Klutch might allow her to do so. She said she would talk to him about it. I propose that we vote on the desicion, however, regaurding Orcas's fate, and the desicion to let Alpha try to recover Hammertread's memory, provided Ratchet can prove it was erased." He glanced at the CMO, who nodded.

Prowl nodded. "That's fine with me, Prime." He agreed, looking at the leader.

"You've got my vote." Wheeljack put in.

Red Alert grumbled something, then said "The sooner we get those two Decepticons out of this base, the better."

Ratchet only nodded. "She'd better not cause any trouble, though. Or I'll personally see to it she gets reprogrammed into an electric dishwasher."

Ironhide nodded. "Ah'm with ya Prahme. A' may not like it, but it seems tha only thing ta do."

Perceptor looked across the table. "considering the circumstances and evidence in opposition of the Decepticon, the only justified judgement seems evident. Albeit the subject matter is arbitrarily encased."

the bots all blinked.

"What he's trying to say." Wheeljack interpreted

"is that the only logical choice is the one you're proposing, Prime. even though, everyone has their own opinion on the matter."

"...Oh." chorused from around the table.

"You know what I think, Prime." Jazz sounded, without enotion."ya gotta do what ya gotta do." he shrugged.

Prime nodded solemnly. "It's decided, then."

An odd silence gathered in the room, which Prime broke.

"Having decided that, I have some other news for you." he turned to the large vidscreen behind him on the wall.

"Bullet informed me of a new project their group is undertaking, involving a miniature spy camera." he flipped on the viewscreen. Everything was black. The group blinked.

Wheeljack asked "Uh... are you sure it's working right?"

The camera found the ventilation grating, and provided the meetingoers with an upside down view of Megatron's office, complete with Megatron sitting at his computer.

The entire group tilted thir head to try and see the screen straight. It finally uprighted itself, and flew over to a bookshelf, perching on top of it, slightly behind where the silver Decepticon leader was sitting in front of his computer, fingers steepled together in thought.

Prowl looked over to see what he was doing.

"What is that?" Wheeljack asked. On the computer's monitor was the layout of a building, the surrounding areas, laid out like a blueprint, and marked in Cybertronian glyphs.

"It looks like some kind of power plant." Jazz commented.

Megatron stood and walked out of his office. The fly flew in closer. The office comlink dinged, and Bullet's voice came through.  
"Prime, Megatron is planning..."

"I know, Bullet." Prime said, urgency in his voice. He stood abruptly. "This meeting is adjourned." he hurried to the door, the others following.

Prowl had interpreted the lettering, and discovered it was the municipal power and electricity company of south Portland they were going to. If the Decepticons did manage to wreck the place, which they usually did whilst getting energy, all of Portland would be blacked out, and even some parts of the nearby Central City.

They arrived before the Decepticons, and managed to get all the humans out before the Decepticons swooped down. Prime caught Megatron completely off gaurd by popping around a corner and decking the Decepticon. Starscream and the other seekers took to the air, but were soon tackled by Sunstreeaker and Sideswipe. Bluestreak took care of Skywarp, while the Lamborgini twins made Thundeercracker and Starscream collide midair.

Thr twins had taken on Soundwave; And Kit, who had tagged along, took on his cassettes.

Ravage snarled and jumped at Kit.

Kit growled and dodged. She yelped as he bit her shoulder.

Jade fired at Starscream, who tried to run behind Megatron. The Decepticons soon took to the air. Prime's comlink came on again. "Prime, this is Bullet. Do you want me to have the flycam return to base with Megatron, or return to base?"

"Send it with them, Bullet." prime responded. "It may be usefull in the future."

Soundwave reminded himself to tell Megatron about the spy camera once they were a safe distance from the Autobots.  
The Alpha and Omega twins fired at Soudnwave and kicked at him.

Finally, the Decepticons retreated, and the Autobots made sure no humans were injured in the attack before heading back to their base.

Alpha and Omega followed. They looked around.

the Decepticons reached the Nemesis, and Megatron was about to demand answers about how the autobots knew about their raid before they got there. soundwave informed Megatron about the fly-cam, and that he would try to intercept the transmission frequency, and find the thing.

--------

Later that day, after it was verified Hammertread's memory was erased, Prime was in his office when his comlink beeped. It was Indy. She explained what was going on, and that she would be arriving that evening. But klutch wouldn't let her leave the country alone, so she'd bring just one contingent of troups and two trucks with her.

(Which was less than the usual 20 or 25 vehicles and about 50-75 troups)

Prime just nodded, and went to let the others know.

-------

Indy pretended to listen to Klutch's lecture as the 3 cargo trucks and troups marched onto the C130 cargo jet. she just nodded, but her thoughts were elsewhere.

-------

Alpha bit her lip to keep from pacing. Primus she was so worried about her friend!

the doorbell rang. She hurried over to the door and opened it. "Yes?"

"I thought I would inform you that Indy has agreed to come to us, in order to help recover Hammertread's memories. Although, if he still decides to claim loyalty to the Decepticons after his memories are recovered, I will have to treat him as though her were one. Do you understand?"

Alpha looked at the ground. She nodded slowly. "Yes sir."

Prime only nodded. She will be here this evening, I'll let you know as soon as she arrives. You two may have some things to discuss." He turned to walk out.

Alpha nodded. "Thanks, Prime..." She added under her breath, "I hope he doesn't go back to a Decepticon..."

"So do I." Prime said to her over his shoulder as he left.

----------

Meanwhile, in another part of the Ark, Bullet, Needle, Cable, and Beacon were playing videogames, Mic and Syus had returned to their home dimension, claiming they had things to attend to there, as well as HighRoad, Ty and Driveby were playing chess, and Cap and Terra were watching tv on the balcony.

the doorchime rang, and Jade answered it. It was Prowl.

He looked around and saw that Terra had yanked Cap in so they could hear what he was going to say. Sighing, Prowl looked at them, "Indy's coming here to help Hammertread recover his memories.

The reactions were quite varied, if not suprised. Everyone started talking at once.

"Why?" (Driveby)

"What for?" (Cap)

"after all the trouble they caused!" (cable)

"Who's Indy?" (Bullet)

Jade glanced at Bullet. "If she sees Bullet, or any of my old team, it'll be absolute mayhem. You guys gotta get out of here."

"Why?" Bullet asked. "What did we do?"

Terra's ears fell flat against her head. She held onto Cap. "What? Why?" She asked as she looked at them.

Jade looked at Bullet. "It's just that Bullet looks like Megatron, and... well, you remember what happenned. The whole Kintaari thing." she looked over at Prowl to explain.

Bullet stood . "What happened while we were gone?" he asked.

Terra looked at the ground and muttered something about "brits"

Prowl explained, and Bullet looked over at Jade. "Why didn't you tell us about this?" he motioned to Needle.

Jade shrugged. "I didn't think it would be a big deal. I thought it was over."

Prowl nodded. Driveby stepped in with: "We should be fine so long as we stay out of sight. And she's right. There's nothing they can do. And it is only Indy." she looked around at everyone. "She tried to help us before."

Terra nodded. "She's right..." She said softly.

------------

Hammertread glared at the ceiling, eyeing the square grating there. He glanced at his gaurds. It was too small for him to fit through.

But someone else...

He sat up, going over to the bars that seperated his cell from Orcas's.

"Psst." he whispered.

Orcus looked at him. "What?" He asked, leaning back.

"Is there a little square grating on the ceiling in your cell?" the tank whispered.

Orcus looked up. His optics spotted it. "Yeah..."

"It's a ventilation duct. If you can get through it, you can get us out of here."

Hammertread made it look like he was leaning against the bars, and the Autobots were none the wiser.

Orcus nodded. He saw it and managed to climb through it, grinning. "Thanks." He said and then left.

"Hey, you're supposed to get me outta here!" Hammertread yelled.

The Autobots heard. trailbreaker ran over to the cells to see what was amiss.

"He's escaped!" he yelled, pointing at Orcas's cell.

"no-good turboflea-bitten wolf." Hammertread hissed, looking at the ventilation duct over his own cell, trying to make out the glowing eyes in the darkness inside it.

Orcus hissed. "I was until you made a scene." He growled, climbing through the ducts.

"Grrr... Well get me out of here anyway!" Hammertread glared up at the ventilation duct.

The autobots hit the alarm.

Orcus yelped. "I'll come back later, promise!" He said before running.

"COME BACK HERE YOU TRAITOR!!!" Hammetread roared.

The three Autobots chased after him, then Trailbreaker returned to keep an eye on Hammertread.

--------------

Alpha looked at the ground and then shook her head. She shut her door and then leaned against it.

Omega put a hand on her shoulder. "It'll be okay..."

"I hope so, Omega...I really do..." She muttered.

Omega smiled softly at her and laid his forehead against hers. "It will be."

Alpha smiled slightly.

Alpha and Omega jumped at the alarm. Both looked at each other and ran out of the room.

--------------

the alarm sounded, making everyone look up. "what's that?" Ty asked. The entire group ran for the door, Prowl in the lead.

in another part of the Ark,Orcus ran faster, determined to get out of the Ark, and back to his freedom.

Prowl was the first into the control room, the others right after him, and they all came to a schreeching halt, ramming into one another as the clicking of rifles and semi-automatic weapons sounded.

you could hear a cricket for a second, or a pin drop, and Cable whispered. "What's going on?"

Indy's voice rang out of the oppisite doorway. "hold youah fiah." she commanded, and her soldiers slowly lowered their weapons. she walked up. "Allo." she smiled.

About that time Alpha and Omega came barreling in, and the group parted to let them through.

Alpha stopped and then looked at her. "Hi, Indy."

Omega yelped and ran into his sister. Both ended up on the floor. "Ow..." Both muttered.

--------

Meanwhile, Hound had spotted Orcas leaving the Ark and followed.

Orcus growled and ran faster.

Jade's group backed off, and Needle moved in front of Bullet so he wouldn't be seen. They started backing away, and once they were out of the room, made a hasty retreat, leaving Jade, Terra, Cap, and Cable.

Hound hit his comlink. "I found Orcas. He's heading off towards the forest."

Prime heard. "We'll go." prowl said, nodding to Jade's group, and a couple other autobots.

"We can help..." Indy started.

"No." prime replied. "It would not be wise to let the humans see you here."

"Yeah, you don't know what they'll think." Cable sounded.

Omega got off his sister and pulled Alpha up. He smiled at her and then looked at Indy.

"...Hiyas, Indy." Alpha finally said, smiling. "Thanks for comin'."

Orcus growled as he ran faster. They were NOT going to catch him! Nope! Not again! 


	4. Chapter 4

Indy nodded, then glanced at the door as the Autobots transformed and zoomed past. Prime walked up to her. "Why don't we go discuss things in my office."

Indy glanced at alpha. "I'd rather like to speak to your... friend first." she said to Prime, although she was looking at Alpha.

--------

Cap zoomed over some rocks, taking a shortcut. In tankmode, he could get places the others couldn't, which meant getting to their enemy faster. "Which forest if he going for, Hound?"

Jade and Terra took to the air to search from overhead, going off on an angle from each other. Terra followed the Autobots on the ground, While Jade circled around to look for Orcas.

--------

Megatron waited for Orcas to contact him. It had been too long. He wondered if the werewolf realy was a traitor, but instead hit a couple keys on his computer, and a blinking red dot came up.  
The tracking device he'd placed on the werewolf hadn't moved since he reached the ark, but now it was on the move again.

Alpha looked at Indy and figured she was talking about Hammertread. "HT, right?" She asked, blinking. "If so, follow me." She led her towards HT.

Prime followed the two femmes, troups marching after. Hammertread was grumbling something about traitorous Autobots and traitorous decepticons, and a few uncomplimentary comments about the ancestry of both, for several generations. Trailbreaker glared at Hammertread, then answered the doorchime. "It's about time you got here." he muttered and walked away, back to the desk he had been sitting at, in the center of the giant room.

Alpha walked in and saw HT. She looked at the ground and then at Indy. "Well...there he is..." she pointed to Hammertread. "Now what?"

Hammertread sat up, and regaurded the group of Autobots cooly, then glanced at the humans around Indy's feet. Something flashed across his memory... marching down the hall surrounded by human soldiers... one of them shocked him with a handheld tazer... a fight broke out...

a blue mech standing beside Indy... Offering to pound him to bits for Alpha because he was being annoying.  
He glanced at Alpha.

----

Orcus growled and touched his comm. "Megatron!"

Hound stopped, having lost track of Orcas. "Found him." Jade swooped down. Terra followed.

"Megatron here. report."

Orcus saw them and panted.

"I'm being chased by Autobots, sir! After escaping their cells..." He said as he ran.

Terra swooped down and grabbed his arm in her claws, but then yelled with pain as Orcus bit down on her bat feets, causing her to drop him.

The werewolf kept running, licking his lips clean of Terra's energon. He grinned. Not bad.

Before Jade could land, a missile hit her wing, and she turned to look as she fell.

She reached for her comlink to yell "Decepticons!", but hit the ground before her hand could reach the commswitch. The impact knocked her out. "Where'd she go?" Cable yelled, looking at the sky. "I think this way." Cap radioed back. "hey Terra, you see anything?"

Starscream, Skywarp, Thundercracker, Megatron, and Soundwave flew up and Megatron and Soundwave landed. "I presume you have an explanation for where you've been!?" megatron demanded.

Skwarp warped so he was right above Terra. He divebomb-tackled her. "Well well well, what have we here." he landed with the struggling femme. Megatron and Soundwave turned to look at her.

"Cap?" Cable called over his comm. "Where are you!? We can't see ya!"

A tree fell in the distance.

"Never mind." the yellow and blue car took off into the forest, and Jade picked herself up dizzily, heading in the same direction.

Terra screamed and struggled. "Lemme go! I'm not going back!" She whimpered, thinking that they were going to take her back. After all, she WAS an escaped Decepticon experiment...

Orcus stood up. "They captured me, sir, the Autobots." He said, looking at him. The mech saw the energon dripping off of Terra's foot and reminded himself to get her later. He licked his lips absent mindedly. Terra whimpered.

Cap crested the hill first, and saw the Decepticons, and the struggling Terra.

He gasped as his mind flashed back to Cybertron...

Cap and the forest green mech, Tripper peeked through a broken window of the building they were in, to see Megatron and the seeker trio, with Soundwave, holding what seemed to be a small red mech... Fastrack, no!" Before he could catch him, the young gunner was running out firing at the Decepticon leader. Megatron turned and fired.

'Cap' ducked. "Have they all been taken care of?" megatron asked.

"affirmative." came soundwave's answer. "Retread HELP!" the red mech squiggled in the blue cassetticon's grasp. "Who?" Megatron asked. "Our captain. out leader. He'll show you!" the red mech kicked, but Megatron only laughed. "Then he will share the same fate as all of you." The tank cringed at the final blast of Megatron's cannon.

"TERRA!" the Decepticons looked up. the tank fired off three shots, scattering the seekers, and transformed and zoomed down the hill towards them.

----------

Alpha locked optics with Hammertread and then looked down. She swallowed. "Hey, HT..." She muttered.

"Alright, Indy...here he is...again." She deadpanned.

"He keeps doing this and he'll end up having to rent this cell as his part time home..."

Hammertread bklinked. "I know you..." he looked away. "I think."

Alpha nodded. "You do, HT..." She said, looking at him. "You've gotta remember me...please..." She begged, her optics looking at the floor.

-  
Terra squirmed in the seeker's grasp. She screamed and kicked. "Lemme go! I won't go back! I won't! I can't!" She said as she tried to flap her wings. The femme screamed again as a crack was heard. Something, or rather, someone, had snapped her flesh wings. Tears fell from Terra's optics as she continued to struggle.

Orcus growled as he ran as fast he had ever run before. He grinned, "That little...flesh bot...is going to be my newest toy once I get away..." He chuckled.

Cap transformed, and fired off a shot at Megatron, who ducked.

"LET HER GO!!" he bellowed, firing again. Soundwave ducked behind a rock and fired back.

Cap ignored the blast as it bounced off his armor. He kept walking. He fired at Orcas's head. His optics glowed bright blue with a fury he hadn't felt since his unit was ambushed. Soundwave fired again. The tank fired back, hitting the cassette host in the chestplate, knocking him out.

Megatron aimed his armcannon at Terra.

Cap aimed at Megatron's head.

"let. her. go."

"NOW!!!" he barked.

---------

Indy looked at Alpha. "So, how are we going to get to him without him trying to rip us apart?" she asked.

Hammertread looked at her, then Alpha again. "If you think I'm going to let you put false memories into my head you're wrong." he snarled.

He remembered something about Alpha telling her the same thing... but why?"

"I'm just a psychic that lends my talents to whoevah needs them." the red sportscar looked at him.

Trailbreaker stood up behind them. "I might be able to offer some help. I can use my frocefield to hold him still, but not for very long." Hammertread glared at him like 'You can try.'

Alpha looked at Hammertread. "This is for your own good, HT..." She said softly. The femme looked at Trailbreaker. "Do it. I can help with the force field if needed, using my psychic energy..." She offered. She was going to do anything to get Hammertread back to normal.

Indy nodded.

Trailbreaker activated his forcefield, shoving the giant tank against the wall, and holding him there. He growled as he struggled against it's hold. "You'd...better...hurry..." Trailbreaker said, concentrating on keeping the field in place.

-----------

Terra cried out, and tried to get away, fear overriding every logic chip she had in her techo-organic body. She kicked and screamed, closing her optics tightly. The bat was way too afraid to think normally and calmly. She wasn't going to go back to all that pain. All those tests...not after she had tasted what life could truely hold. She looked at Cap. "Help me!"

Megatron turned and fired at Cap...

the tank dodged, and ran, but instead of tackling Megatron, he went right past, aiming for Orcas.

Orcus yelled as he did. He moved out of the way...and got hit by another blast with Megatron's cannon.

He let go of Terra, who ran a couple steps, but was grabbed by Megatron before she could get away.

----------

Alpha joined in on helping the mech keep the forcefield up with her pyshic powers. She groaned and put all of her energy into holding it up. "Hurry, Indy."

Indy deactivated the field and stepped into the cell, motioning for Alpha to follow. The field clicked back on after them, just in case Trailbreaker's forcefield gave away. Indy walked up.

"No..." Hammertread turned his head to one side. "Don't touch me!!" he wiggled against the field...

Indy glanced at Alpha. "Don't worry about the field. Come and help me. Youah memories of him should help."

Alpha walked over to Hammertread, tears in her optics, and touched his cheeks. "Easy, Hammertread...I'm not going to hurt you..." She promised as she swallowed. "Ready, Indy?"

----------

Terra yelped and squrimed. "Cap, help me!" She begged as she fought against Megatron.

Cap looked up, giving Orcas the chance to punch him in the nose and get free to run. Starscream and the jets swung over, keeping the rest of the autobots busy. It was just the two of them, and Terra. Megatron grinned, aiming his arcannon at her head from where his arm was around her. He took a step back...

Cap ran and tackled him, shooving his cannon away from Terra's head and punching him in the face with his other hand. the shot went wild, hit Thundercracker, who was flying overhead..

Terra fell to the ground and sobbed as her broken wings bled, not only energon, but blood as well. She struggled to get to her feet as she crawled away from Megatron. The poor femme had been scared of going back and now...she couldn't handle the pain that went with it.

-----------

Hammertread growled loudly, trying to resist. Indy put her hands over Alpha's. "No... let me go!" the tank howled, struggling even more.  
he whimpered, starting to shake, knowing he was helpless. and that scared him.

Alpha looked at Hammertread and looked away. Tears ran down her cheeks. "We're not going to hurt you, Hammertread. I never would..." She whispered before helping Indy take the mental barriers away.

The field started to loose it's grip, and Hammetread moved a little from side to side. He roared, not wanting to believe it, and the resistance in his mind only caused more pain, which made him angrier. He finally froze for a second, then roared like a beast released from hell, and brioke the field, throwing both femmes back onto their skidplates. He stomped over, red optics glowing like hell-coals, and grabbed Alpha by the upper arm, hauling her rougly to her feet, his grip so tight around her arm the metal squeaked.

He growled low in his vocaliser, and narrowed his optics.

Alpha gasped, looking at him. She trembled in fear, but then braved up. The pain in her arm was nothing compaired whatever else she had been through. Alpha reached up with her one free arm and touched his cheek. "Hammertread...come on...please remember...it's me...it's Alpha..." She whispered, looking him in the optics. "Please remember me...don't let Megatron's machine stop you from remembering who you really are...remember Driveby? Kit? The Blue Twit!"

--------

The sound of other autobots's engines sounded in the distance. "Get out of here." Cap yelled at Terra. "Go!" Megatron fired at Terra.

Cap jumped at him, grabbing his armcannon, wrestling with the silver Decepticon for a second, and exchanging a couple of punches. The rest of the autobots appeared over the hill, those who weren't trying to keep Starscream and the jets away.  
The tank puched him again.. The autobots helped Terra into the back of Ironhide's van mode, and they took off for the Ark.  
Cable grinned at where Cap's back was to him from atop the hill, silently cheering him on.

Suddenly, a bright white light lanced out, going right through the mini-tank. Megatron paused, scowled at the group as he fell, and took to the air.

"CAP!" Cable screamed, and bolted down the hill.

Terra felt something in her spark drop. "No..." She whispered, knowing Cap was, if not dead, seriously injured. She shook her head and tears fell. "No...no...no please..."

Cable ran over and rolled over the tank from his side to his back. "Megatron blasted a hole all the way through him." His voice shook. Ratchet ran up and looked over him. "He's alive. But barely. We have to get him back to base. Now." he transformed and sped back to base with Cap. Cable transformed and did a peelout, chasing after him.

---------

Hammertread leaned down, towering over her. Before anyone could blink, he'd wrapped his other arm around her and lifted her all the way off the ground in a crushing hug. He chuckled lowly. "Had you scared, didn't I?" he chuckled into her audio.

Alpha blinked, but then smiled. She wrapped her arms around him and hugged him. "Primus, HT, you did! Don't ever scare me like that again!" She smiled.

Hammertread grinned. "So how is little Kittar?" he set Alpha back down.

((he used to never ever call her by name, just the impersonal 'kid'. He's not the cold creature he was. grins ))

Indy picked herself up, holding her head where she'd hit it on the floortile. She looked at him.

"Thank you." he said.

Indy's jaw hit the floor. "Youah...welcome..." she said, like she herself didn't believe she had heard what he had just said.

She looked at Alpha, optic ridges inching higher in question.

Alpha smiled. "She's fine. Worried to death about her 'uncle HT' but fine." She smiled up at him. The femme then looked at Indy. She shrugged. "Don't look at me. I'm just happy he's back to normal." The femme admitted. "And not trying to kill me..."

Here, she rubbed her cheek where he had hit her when they had fought the first time his memory had been erased.

HT smirked, but didn't apologise. He still didn't want anyone else to think he was weak.

"I'll call Prime." Indy nodded, clicking off the field, then back on once she was out of the cell, so even if Hammertread tried to escape, he still wouldn't be able to.

-----------

Ratchet sped into the repairbay, where Ironhide was allready with Terra, Wheeljack was working on her wing. He looked up as the medic placed the tank on the repair berth and started to hook up various backup power lines and work on the most major of the damage. "lucky bastard. The blast barely missed his spark casing. Had he moved an inch further he'd be dead right now." he mumbled.

Cap's blue optics lit slightly. "...terr..a..." he whispered.

"You're safe." Ratchet replied. "You're back at the Ark." The mini-tank's fingers twitched slightly, and Ratchet put a hand over his arm to keep him from moving. "Don't try to move. You're severely injured." he glanced at Terra. "I don't know how he's awake. He shouldn't even be concious." he noted.

"te...rra." Cap gasped.

Terra gripped his hand. "I'm here, Cap...I'm here..." She whispered, "Don't leave me...please. Don't leave me"  
Ratchet moved around to the other side of the repair table, trying to get the tank's systems re-routed before he could have a cascade failure on all systems. He glanced at Terra.

The doors banged open, and Cable, Becaon, Gunlock, Ty, and Driveby came running through, Jade behind them. "What's going on?" Driveby demanded.

"Get out!" Ratchet yelled. "I can't work with all of you standing of him like a bunck of broody hens." he glared.

Cable folded his arms.

"Just let him do his job, guys." Jade mumbled from behind them.

Terra ignored him and continued to hold onto Cap's hand. "Please...please don't leave me...I can't live without you..." She said, looking at him. The bat kissed the mech's hand. "Please don't leave me..."

-------------

Alpha looked around to make sure no one was around and then hugged Hammertread. "Glad t' have ya back t' normal, HT." She said, letting go of him. "Ya had me scared there for a minute." She said, rubbed her arm.

Indy came back over and clicked off the forcefield. "Alpha, Prime says he'll be down in a minute, but he's kinda busy right now. Something about on of Driveby's group getting shot." she said. She glanced at Hammertread, sensing the difference in his emotions. she smiled.

Alpha nodded and then looked around. "Oh shoot! I gotta get down there!" She said, "I've supposed to be helping Ratchet!" She looked at her internal clock, "I am late for my shift! Shoot!" THe femme muttered.

"Don't let him kill anyone!" She called back to Indy as she ran towards the med bay. "Or they'll be hell to pay...both of ya!"

--------

the doors opened again, and Prime walked through.

Ratchet threw his hands in the air. "Oh for the love of... DO YOU MIND!!?"

He went back to work, hurriedly tying in what systems he could.

"It's...o..kay..." Cap mumbled.

"He's awake!" Cable cheered and hurried up next to Terra.

Ratchet glared, but said nothing more.

He knew there wasn't anything else he could do.

He could try. But no one had ever gotten a hole blasted through them by Megatron, and lived to tell about it.

After a moment, Driveby and the others silently walked up, Prime behind them.

"You did a courageous thing." Prime rumbled. "had..to." Cap replied, forcing a smile at Terra.

Alpha walked in. Cap offlined his optics breifly before speaking again. "Had to make up for my cowardace in the past." he took another breath, and his optics met Prime's.

"My troup was ambushed in Iacon." Prime's optics widened in suprise. He looked over at Alpha.

Alpha looked at the ground. She knew what he meant. She had seen it in his mind.

Terra shook her head. "No...No...Cap, please..." She whimpered, clutching her hand. Tears fell from her optics and onto the mech. "Please don't...you can't die..."

Alpha took a deep breath and told the story.

Cap had been an Autobot, in charge of a unit of eight Autobots, who were trying to keep the Decepticons from invading a city at the outskirts of Iacon. Cap and one of the group had circled around to one side of the city, and when they returned, when none of the others would respond over the radio. When he and Tripwire got back to the area, they had ducked inside an old gutted bulding, which had been destroyed by bombs or something. Megatron had basically massacred the rest of his troup, and had Fasttrack, the scout for his unit, prisoner. Tripwire ran out of the building to try and save him, And, in a moment of weakness, Cap stayed put, hidden inside the building, while both were shot, knowing he'd share their fate if he showed himself. Cap...well, Retread, was his actual name, had only had the rank of captain, but had been put in charge of the group because of the lack of ranking officers in the army at the time. "Cap" is actuall his old nickname, short for captain.

When she was finished, she was looking at the ground. Yes, again.

Terra looked at Cap once Alpha had finished and stroked his forehead. "You could have just let me die..." She whispered.

"Why did you do this?" She asked, putting his hand to her forehead.

Cap looked up at Terra, almost like he was going to cry himself. "I should have gone out defending my team a long time ago, Terra. but it's a blessing from Primus I've had the chance to know you."

Blue optics dimmed slightly, and flickered out.

Driveby and her team stood at attention, quickly saluting. A blue spark appeared from the greying form, lighting the entire room, before slowing to hover, brightening as though gazing at them one final time.

"We'll miss you, Cap'n." Cable sobbed. Then the spark flashed, as though smiling, and shot straight up, dissapearing through the metal plating of the ceiling.

Everyone's stare followed it, and then back to where he had been.

Terra sobbed and clutched his hand. Her body was wracked with her sobs as she leaned over Cap's body and cried. She wrapped her arms around him and pulled him close to her.

Alpha looked at the ground and slowly walked out of the med bay. She had tears in her optics and pulled Prime out of the med bay. "N-Not to..." She trailed off and wiped her tears away. "B-But Ht's kinda..." She looked at the ground, ashamed she was talking about him when someone had just died. But she couldn't help it.

"look." Cable nodded to where the tank was starting to fade into thin air, as though he had never existed.  
Driveby and her team took a step forward.

Terra blinked. Her optics widened. "C-Cap?" She whimpered.

The final bit of grey faded from view, like a mirage, and Jade stepped forward. "I wonder..." she breathed.

---

Hammertread paced his cell, then flopped down, and started counting ceiling tiles. He grinned.

He glanced at Indy and chuckled.

"And there's floor tiles, too." he rolled over so he was facing the bars.

"And look, a bunch of human soldiers." The captain of the group facepalmed, and Hammertread laughed.

"I think I'm gonna like it here just fine, after all." he grinned.

Omega laughed as he became visable. He was standing across from Hammertread's cell. "Mind if I help?" He grinned. "I do enjoy annoying these humans."

"Sure." Hammertread scooted over, to give Omega some room on the bench next to him.

Omega laughed. "Ya know...I wonder if they'll hold up as long as the others." He chuckled before counting.

"One idiot, two squishies, three idiots, four little shrimpies..." he recieved a glare from one of the human soldiers. "...six little rodents"  
"Hey!" he chuckled, and looked at Omega.

"Not again!" One of the other soldiers protested.

Omega laughed. "One little human...two little human...three little human..."

"Four little idiots." Alpha and Omega said at the same time.

"Huh? Hey! Wanna annoy them with us?" Omega offered his sister, grinning.

Alpha laughed. "Maybe later, bro." She said, but there was sadness behind both her voice and her optics. Anyone who knew her could see that.

Omega's wings drooped. "Kay."

Hammertread looked up at her. "What's wrong?" he asked, tilting his head to one side.

Omega touched his sister mind, but then yelped. "Ow! Hey! All ya had to do was say no!"

Alpha smirked, but then it fell. "...Cap died saving Terra from Megatron..." She whispered, looking down.

Omega's wings drooped even farther. "Oh..."

"Yep..." Alpha muttered. The truck bed on her back slumped slightly along with her shoulders.

Hammertread looked out of the cell at the human soldiers, who looked none too pleased.

Indy walked back in with Prime.

----------

meanwhile...

"ding dong." the doorbell rang, and the two people answered it. The short blonde-haired man in fatigues gulped. "uh...hi... um.. I know you're daughter... "

he glanced from one person to the other. "It's kinda hard to explain..."

he rubbed at the back of his neck nervously.

The two moved aside, letting the young man enter the white farmhouse...

-  
Jade grinned and ran out of the repairbay. "what!? What!?" Cable followed after.

"It's okay, just... stay with terra. I'll be back." Jade headed for Wheelajck's shop, where her car was kept.

"I'm going with you." Cable caught up to her.

"So are we." Driveby walked up, Ty, Gunlock, and Beacon beside her. Jade just nodded, knowing they were going to say that.

"but who's gonna stay with terra?" she asked.

Everyone looked at Cable.

He sighed and looked at the ground. "Alright." he said softly, heading back to the repairbay.

-------------

Alpha looked up at Prime. "Heyas, Prime." She said.

Omega shot up, almost hitting Hammertread in the head with his wings.

"Sorry!" He winced before walking over to his sister's side.

"I was told I should speak with you." Prime said.

"aww, but we were just starting to have fun." HT smirked. "Right guys?" he leaned over to look past Prime and called to the troups.

"F#$ you!" came the reply.

"Only humans can do that, and I already have a girlfriend. But thanks for the offer" HT called back, glancing at Alpha and grinning. He just got a dirty look, and no response to that.

------

Terra was still in the med bay, sobbing. She had her arms folded and was laying her head on the med bay where her boyfriend's body had once been. She shook with ever sob.

Terra clutched the bed. "W-Why? Why? I was just starting to forget everything...and they took him away from me...they always take everything away from me.."

Cable came up behind her and pulled her into a hug. "It'll be okay... he was my friend, too. like a brother, really." he looked around for Ratchet to help him out, but the CMO had allready retreated to his office. He felt bad enough he couldn't do his job well enough this once.

"Come on, let's go back to our quarters. We can talk there." he said softly.

----

Omega was the one who shot him the dirty look. He was offended someone would say that to his sister.

Alpha rolled her optics, but smirked, shaking her head. She then blinked. Was he talking about DriveBy...or her? He had to be talking about Driveby. She did love him, but...he cared about Driveby more than her...right?

HT smiled at Alpha, then turned his attention to Prime. "They were right. Megatron put mental barriers in my head. In a chip." he held a hand to his head. "But Indy managed to get around it. It might come back if you can't get the chip out." he trailed off.

After a second he continued. "I should not have been so naieve to think things would be the same as they were five million years ago. Megatron is not the leader he once was." his voice took on more conviction as he went on. "And I will never be the mindless soldier I once was to him." he took off the Decepticon symbol that had been placed on his chest. "And this." He ripped it in half, then to shreds. "Will never mean anything to me again." he let the tiny purple shreds of metal drift to the flooring. He looked at prime and waited for an answer.

Alpha was stunned, but she then smiled and couldn't help but laugh.

Omega smirked and laughed as well.

Prime smiled behind his faceplate, but managed to keep it from showing. "Very well. If that is your desiscion..." He smiled.

Alpha grinned and glomped her brother.

"Ack!" Omega yelped. "Why ya glompin' me? He's the one that's not a Decepticon anymore. Oops...wrong choice of words..." He muttered.

"'Cause he's got an attitude 'bout people touchin' 'im and I really don't wanna get on his bad side." Alpha smirked.  
Prime shook his head.

HT folded his arms, then grabbed Alpha up and have her a bear hug. Her armor creaked, and he chuckled.

Alpha gaped, her optics wide. "Okay then..." She muttered, looking up at him. "Who are you and what have you done to Hammertread?" She asked and then laughed.

Omega rolled his optics, but smirked.

Prime shook his head.

Hammertread set Alpha back down. "I'm me. Who are you?" he mock-scowled. The group walked out of the brig, towards the command room, where Indy was waiting. The human soldiers followed.

"I remember, now. Even before I fell off that cliff. Before the mechs who found me reprogrammed my neurocircuitry so I wouldn't remember." he looked at her.

They reached the command room, and Indy nodded. "I'm probably gonna have a lot to explain foah not getting Orcas, but... she glanced at the doorway. "Maybe he'll make the mistake of coming to us someday. If you evah captchuh any moah Decepticons, let us knoe, and We'll try to get heah soonah." she looked like she was trying to believe it, but knew she'd be in huge trouble when she got home.

"I was wondering." prime glanced at Hammertread. "You have some experience from your facility working with neuro-processor chips, might you be able to help us out with something?" he glanced at Hammertread, who squeezed Alpha's hand slightly at the mention. HT glanced at her unsuredly.

"Perhaps." Indy nodded.

--------

Meanwhile, a black and red Dodge Shadow pulled into the driveway of the white farmhouse, and the blonde-haired (human Jade) rang the doorbell. "Mom, Dad, I'm home." she grinned.

--------

Cable led Terra into the crew's quarters and handed her an energon cube, wondering what Jade meant. "Maybe... do you want to go talk to someone? I'm sure Jazz or Smokescreen would be in the rec. room." he offered.

Smokescreen was the unoficcial counselor at the Ark, but he knew Terra might be more inclined to talk to one of the other mechs.

Terra shook her head, tears still in her optics, and just buried her face in her arms, which were wrapped tightly around her legs. 


	5. Epilogue

I was re-reading this, and realized I left just just a little bit of fic, so I'm kinda posting it as an epilogue. In case anyone was wondering why the fanfic ended so suddenly... sorry about that. :-p 

----------------------------------------

Hammertread set Alpha back down. "I'm me. Who are you?" he mock-scowled. The group walked out of the brig, towards the command room, where Indy was waiting. The human soldiers followed.

"I remember, now. Even before I fell off that cliff. Before the mechs who found me reprogrammed my neurocircuitry so I wouldn't remember." he looked at her.

They reached the command room, and Indy nodded. "I'm probably gonna have a lot to explain foah not getting Orcas, but... she glanced at the doorway. "Maybe he'll make the mistake of coming to us someday. If you evah captchuh any moah Decepticons, let us knoe, and We'll try to get heah soonah." she looked like she was trying to believe it, but knew she'd be in huge trouble when she got home.

"I was wondering." Prime glanced at Hammertread. "You have some experience from your facility working with neuro-processor chips, might you be able to help us out with something?" he glanced at Hammertread, who squeezed Alpha's hand slightly at the mention. HT glanced at her unsuredly.

"Perhaps." Indy nodded.

Alpha squeezed his hand back. "Don't worry, HT." She smiled up at him, "Indy's with us, remember? not against us like the blue twit." She smirked and then looked at Indy. The femme sighed. Glad you've got your memory back, HT. She told him in his mind, Didn't wanna 'ave t' try to lure you out again...last time we tried that... She shook her head.

Omega rolled his optics, but smiled at his big sister.

-------------------------

The beat-up looking black and red car pulled up to the Ark and parked, and the group of humans piled out. "See, I told you they'd understand." Jade said. Gunlock frowned. "They didn't look very pleased." he noted. "Nah, don't worry about it." she smiled back at the group, and they headed for the main control room.

-----------------------------

HT wanted to argue with Prime, but knew he still had to earn their trust. Refusing to have the chip taken out of his processor meant that he could still revert to a state of mind of the Decepticon he had once been. And that meant hurting Alpha, who had done so much for him... He glanced at her, and nodded.

----------------------------

The group walked in, and transformed as they walked in line down the hallways, to transformers. Prime turned to greet them.

Cap saluted. "Captain Retread of the one hundred and twenty-eighth infantry division, reporting for duty, sir!" he grinned widely.

Prime chuckled. "Welcome home, Cap."

"He's Alive!" Cap was tackled by a yellow and blue blur. He coughed as the two hit the flooring and skidded.

"Get.. off.. me.. you.. Idiot!" Cap laughed, and punched Cable, who hit him back, mock-fighting wuith him .

"Do you know how much (wham) you scared (wham) me!?" Cable hit him back, laughing just as hard.

Prime looked at them., "All right, you two. You don't want to have to go see Ratchet for getting into a fight right after getting back, now do you?"

Cap looked up, and his grin dropped.

"TERRA!" he scrambled to his feet and took of down the hall.

"Terra!" he shouted, skidding around a scorner, and jogging down an adjacent hall, towards their quarters.

"Terra!" he called.

Alpha smiled at him. She squeezed his hand again. "Don't worry." the femme winked, "I'll make sure she doesn't hurtcha."

---

Terra shot up. "C-Cap?" She whimpered. Cap burst into the crew quarters, halting in the center of the floor, looking around for Terra.

Terra saw him and sniffed. Her optics went wide and saw gaped.

"C-Cap?" She whimpered, but was soon hugging him tightly, arms wrapped around him in joy.

"Cap!"

Said tank chuckled and hugged her tightly, turning around with joy, and kissed her quarely on the lips. "I'm so happy to be home." he grinned.

Terra sobbed and clung to him. She wiped the tears away and kissed him back. "I'm glad to have you back here, Cap"

fin.

------------------------------------

There, that seems like a much better ending. Sorry I forgot that part. :-p


End file.
